this was the proper one. yeah, this was the proper, this was like assembly and everything. yeah. so just run us through sort of what was happening on tuesday afternoon then. yeah. so this was really them all sitting in the chamber in the house of commons for the first time. so it was the moment where you get sir keir starmer walking in as labour prime minister. and of course, the first labour leader to do that after winning a general election since tony blair. and there was lots of cheering and clapping, even though mps had literallyjust been told you're not allowed to clap in the chamber. so, getting off to a good start of breaking the rules. um, so there was a lot of that. and then of course, the depleted ranks of the conservatives on the other side. and that's the most stark thing here, isn't it? it's the complete role reversal. so because rishi sunak has decided, unlike gordon brown, to come and be leader for at least a while, it means he has to sit there in the place that

sir keir starmer used to occupy and do the role of leader of the opposition. but with 175 fewer of his mps behind him. so a very stark reminder. and that's what one tory mp said to me, it'sjust becomes very obvious. even if you didn't know that there's been a massive shift in parliamentary power and then of course, loads more liberal democrats, far fewer snp and then the new faces like nigel farage, reform mps, a couple of extra green mps as well. so definitely feels like a real change. and of course all those new ones looking really happy. i'm a bit lost as they wander around and try and find their way around, but you know, looking very happy. lots of hugging and smiles and we will see how long all that lasts. and nigel farage used some of his first ever speech as a as an elected mp in the house of commons to criticise the previous speaker, john bercow, who lots of people thought tried to thwart brexit. and people had sort of hinted at that in in the chamber before, but never been quite as explicitly critical as nigel farage was today. so sort of setting a setting a tone from day one. yeah.

and i think, you know, that's the thing you get with nigel farage, isn't it? i think that's part of his appeal, is that he will say things that other politicians might not say out loud. and as you say, he came straight in, was praising lindsay hoyle, who, of course, the other thing that happened today, he was re—elected as the speaker, because nothing can happen in the house of commons chamber without a speaker. so that's the first thing they had to do. he wasn't opposed in that. and he was dragged to the chair, as is tradition. and then nigel farage talking about him and saying how, you know, it's absolutely right that you're impartial, unlike your predecessor, john bercow. and keir starmer used his speech to just reiterate all that stuff about making politics be about service rather than self—interest. it was another opportunity, another platform for him to just hammer home that thing he's been hammering home every time he's spoken since friday. yeah. that's right. i mean, although it wasn't overtly political today, there was it was much more a sort of tone of reflection

more than anything else. those you know, the last time i was trying to work out, the last time, actually, that keir starmer and rishi sunak would have been face to face, i was wondering if it was that debate, um, you know, which was pretty bad tempered, shouting at each other and all the rest of it. and so this was very different. but he did talk about trust in politics and service, and that really was a bit of a dig really at the conservatives in the last few years. so yes, really ramming home that message again. um, you've already hinted at this, but let's dig into the new parliamentary seating arrangements, because we've got this voice note from newscaster bob. hello, newscast. it's bob pugh from ashbourne in derbyshire. given the significant changes in numbers of mps by party and the house is too small for all the mps, how are the seating will the new opposition end up being sandwiched with mps from other parties on either side, as well as in front? be good to find out. thank you. so, hello, ashbourne. um, yes.

so i mean, the conservatives. vicki took the usual opposition spot, wasn't it? which is like up against the the far end of the opposition benches. and then it was a case of the other opposition parties where they plonked themselves at the other side, at the other end of the chamber. yeah. i mean, it's, you know, there's the sort of obvious one is the government and then the opposition straight opposite them. so at the despatch box, you know, the bit in the middle where the two leaders stand and face each other at prime minister's questions. that's the bit probably that people are most familiar with. and then normally the opposition, they quite often take up all of that area and then a bit of the other. but of course they have far fewer mps now. so you have loads more liberal democrats. they have reclaimed, if you like, the third party spot, which is the next section along far fewer snp mps, they're behind. and then nigel farage and his colleagues on the back row sort of sort of on the edge of the conservatives, if you like. so these things really are convention and they are worked out the usual channels.

you might hear people talking about the usual channels, which is effectively the whips offices. they are the party managers. there's an awful lot, probably more than people realise, an awful lot of chat behind the scenes about all these kind of things. it includes select committee posts. it includes, you know, who does what in that, and they talk all the time. and that's how this kind of stuff is sorted out. and bob is right that the chamber is actually not big enough for all 650 mps. if you include sinn fein who don't turn up. so they take a bit of pressure off the numbers, but you end up with quite a big chunk of people, including sometimes ministers, standing at the end. i mean, it's very rare that all mps turn up. i mean, that's the truth of it. the chamber is pretty empty. a lot of the time. now, prime minister's questions is the moment where most turn up. even then it won't be all of them. but i think someone said that the commons seats about 400, maybe 450, so there's never enough room. anyway, the difference this time is that it's so one sided because labour have so many mps, it means that it's really, really, uh, squashed on their side.

and then there is a lot more room on the other side. so they sit on the steps, they sit at the end. and i think today you have a gallery going round the outside and at the top above the chamber. so that's a press gallery, a public gallery. and at the sides there's more seats. and i think there are a lot of labour mps sitting up there on the labour side above sir keir starmer. right. let's have another question. this is from newscasterjoshua howe. newscasting joshua from london. uh, first of all, thank you so, so, so much for your tireless and ongoing hard work. 30 years old. i voted in four general elections, and i've never felt so informed and enthusiastic about an election i've headed this year. i'm currently watching the first meeting of parliament for the first time ever, albeit discreetly, at work with headphones on while everyone else thinks i'm tip tapping away on excel. however, i'm a bit confused about some things. what do mother and father of the house mean? why are all the walking between the house of lords and the house of commons basically.

can you help clarify today's proceedings? thank you so much again. really looking forward to the next podcast. 0h, joshua, i mean, thank you for lavishing us with praise. yeah, he's very enthusiastic. and also ijust think, come on, watching the first sitting of the new parliament, that's not exactly like skiving, like watching real housewives on your laptop. i mean, this is you were doing your democratic duty. 0k. right. vicki, mother and father, the house. i, just explain that one. so traditionally, it was always father of the house because i think, you know, there weren't many female mps. so father of the house was always the one who's been sitting the longest in the house of commons, and now they do mother of the house. so i think since really only since harriet harman wasn't it, that they've decided to do that. um, so that has now changed. you've got edward lee, who's a conservative mp, and then diane abbott, who was elected in 1987, and they both got to speak today. but they are, if you like, the longest serving members of the house of commons.

and if sir edward lee hadn't been around, if, say, he'd retired, then the next longest serving potential father of the house was jeremy corbyn. i know, and so you would. have had jeremy corbyn and diane abbott as mother and. father. i think that only happened. it was all to do with the way that they swore in. so, you know, you have to swear in and take the oath of allegiance before you become an mp. and that's what's going on right now in the commons. and i think it was only because of the order, wasn't it, that they were standing there because i think edward leigh and jeremy corbyn were both elected at the same election. so it was purely about where they happened to be standing when they were sworn in. and in terms of the going backwards and forwards, i think, joshua, it's because the commons have to be sort of summoned and kind of kick started by a message from the sovereign. and of course, the sovereign�*s only represented in the house of lords. they're not allowed to go into the commons. so basically the king today was represented in the lords by these royal commissioners, which is a group of kind of senior members of the house of lords, and they summon black rod, uh, who's one of the house of commons officials up to the lords.

and black rod brings some mps with them. and that sort of kick starts the whole process of the new parliament sitting, and then the speaker only officially becomes the speaker once they've gone through the process of royal approbation. and that also happens in the lords. so that's why you have them going to the lords, first of all. then you have the speaker being elected, then you have the speaker going to the lords, then the speaker goes back, and then the house of commons can really get under way. and then the next thing that happens is everyone kind of swearing in as an mp. and you can do that on a bible or another holy book. and actually keir starmerjust decided not to use the bible. yeah they do. exactly. it's sort of people choose different ways of doing it. i mean, you can see it all, it's all live streamed and it's sort of done in order of seniority, really, isn't it? so you end up with the cabinet, the shadow cabinet, and then it's done on, you know, when you were first elected. so the newbies i think, come towards the end. but it is also worth saying that people might be slightly confused because the state opening of parliament won't come

for a while, and that's when everyone will know. the king turns up and he stands there and reads the king's speech. but that's a separate thing. that's the state opening. this isjust the reopening of parliament after the general election. and then, i mean, there's so much going on, and we're recording this episode of newscast at at 6:45 on tuesday. and just a few minutes ago, vicki, we had an emailfrom number ten with some more appointments of ministers, and we're sort of working our way down the ladder. we've done we did the cabinet over the weekend. we did then sort of senior but ministers but who were junior to the cabinet over the last few days. and now we've got kind of like the rung below that which is parliamentary secretaries and parliamentary under—secretaries. yeah. and it's quite interesting. there's been a couple of more ministers of state, as you say. they're the sort of the most senior of the ones who aren't in the cabinet, the most. the seniorjuniors.

the most seniorjuniors. the most senior juniors. so you've got a couple of lords. so one who's been put in the lords. so david hanson is going to be put in the lords. he's going to be in the home office, which i think he did thatjob before a long time ago, probably. yeah. if my memory serves me right. and then lord hunt of kings heath, he is going to be a minister of state in the department of energy. and again, it's interesting because instead of putting every department has a lord attached to it, if you like, who is a minister, but they're normally quitejunior, whereas some of these are ministers of state. so with a bit more seniority. and then there's some quite striking appointments because what sir keir starmer has done is, he's given some of the newest mps literallyjust been elected last thursday. he's given them jobs now that's, you know, pretty incredible. i don't really remember that happening before. so the striking ones i would say georgia gould, she is a parliamentary secretary in the cabinet office and she, um, has been the leader of camden council since 2017. herfather worked for tony blair and then. she's a red princess. she's, we sometimes talk about the red princes, who are the sons of big former labour names. she's a red princess. that is true.

and then you've got alastair cairns, and he is a former colonel and marine, and he has been made the veterans minister. so again, you know, a newly elected mp coming straight into a ministerialjob, which might be, you know, a bit a bit controversial amongst the mps who've been around for much longer and haven't got a job. yeah. and then, i mean, there's still a fewjobs still up for grabs though, isn't there? so, they haven't filled all the governmentjobs. and so we'll see. but also another interesting job. um, so formerfriend of the podcast, although he's welcome to come back as a friend of the podcast, he's never actually hasn't stopped being ourfriend chris stark. so he was chief executive of the climate change committee and was quite happy to sort of criticise the government for being slow or missing their climate change targets. he had quit thatjob a few months ago, gone to go and become the head of a of a climate, um, ngo called the carbon trust. he's been hired by ed miliband to do this new thing called mission control. he's going to oversee one of the the progress on one of keir starmer�*s five missions, which is is decarbonising the electricity grid. and i think that's an interesting appointment because, i mean,

chris stark is an energetic guy. he knows his stuff. and how much of a critical friend will he be? will he carry on that thing he was doing in his old job, where he'd call out slow progress if he saw it, or he'd be a bit more just a friend now. and also, will he be accused ofjust doing this thing they called the revolving door? yeah. i mean, i guess what he's doing is almost doing it the way around, isn't he? because quite often you're a minister and then you leave and go and work for some kind of business that's been involved in your area, whereas he's coming into government. and i suppose he would argue he knows what he's talking about. and actually it means he can actually maybe change things because labour are in power and he can actually maybe have some influence over that. but you're right, it's going to be interesting to see if he's critical at all of what the labour government is doing, but it does. sound like he's going to be allowed to speak to the media. and i imagine in his first few interviews, people will say to him, hang on, were you like a labour plant and the climate change committee all along?

and actually, you know, we've got i think you've just blown your. chance of him coming on and giving you an exclusive there. yes. well, we'll see. we will ask that question to him if he comes on newscast again, like he's done many, many times before. and also in terms ofjobs, if we switch over to the the conservative party, the opposition, they've been electing a new chair of the 1922 committee, which is a quite powerful kind of backbench committee. oh yes, they have. now hang on, i haven't seen the results. bob blackman. blackman resounding victory against geoffrey clifton—brown. that's right. so he will now. and the reason that this is important there's lots of reasons. it's quite a pretty powerful committee. it used to be i mean it's probably more powerful when they're in government, but they, uh imminently will be very crucial to setting the rules of the leadership contest. so although there are rules that are normally followed, they can be varied. so they can vary how many supporters you need in order to get onto the ballot in the first place. they can decide how long it all takes. so that's going to be a really crucial role. and they are the people that that decide all of that.

so that's an important role for him. um, and we nodded towards rishi sunak being leader of the opposition and sort of being on the opposite side of the house of commons from where we used to seeing him. i mean, what was your take on his on his performance today? yeah. i mean, it must be pretty difficult. i mean, lots of gordon brown refused to do it. he just resigned, went off. harriet harman took over as a caretaker leader. so that was the option that rishi sunak had. and i spoke to a couple of his friends and they said, look, we've said to him we would prefer him to stay at least for a while, and they felt that he would do that and that is what he's done. but, you know, coming in there, sitting in that chamber on the opposite side, you know, it must be a very strange feeling to have those roles reversed. and the question now is, how long is he going to stay? will he stay and do that? prime minister's questions i think there will be just one before the parliamentary recess, because that would be, again, a pretty strange thing to do when you've already been prime minister. you know, others have done it like michael howard,

but they hadn't been prime minister and switched over to leader of the opposition. so just hearing that, you know, read out by the speaker saying leader of the opposition, rishi sunak, it's strange. and he sort of again repeated some of his messages apologising to his colleagues. you know, he's got 175 fewer of them sitting behind him. so it's not an easy time for him to do that and sit there and obviously watch the person who's defeated you sitting there with lots of smiling faces and a lot more of them sitting opposite you. and just on the timing of when he will actually go as leader of the conservative party, i've noticed the language has changed a little bit over the last few days. when he first announced his resignation as prime minister, he said, i'll stay on as leader of the conservative party until the process for choosing my successor is agreed, which sounds like not staying around for very long. but now i've noticed in conservative party press releases, they say that he'll be in post until much further through the process for appointing his successor. so i think he might be hanging a little.

yeah, i mean, a little bit longer than maybe... longer than he was initially intending. yeah. i mean, because i suppose the problem is if he doesn't, then you've got the whole issue of a caretaker leader, and then you have to decide who that's going to be. and that that can't be someone who's going to be involved in the contest. i mean, it is possible. i mean, he told us when we went to the g7 in italy, that was his last foreign trip. and, you know, we all the journalists asked him would he stay as an mp? and he said, yes, i'm going to stay for five years now. of course, you have to say that when you were in literally in the middle of a general election campaign, it'll be interesting to see how long he decides to stay as an mp. and a few other titbits, or we've got some more elections and appointments. the deputy speakers. oh, i haven't seen that either. well, no, they haven't happened yet. oh no, i was just i was just noting the elections exist. yeah. don't worry, i'm not i'm not trying to scoop you here. don't worry. um, yeah. because there's three deputy speakers and the previous deputy speakers have all gone

for various reasons. yes. so they are their elected positions, i think, aren't they? are they elected positions? yeah. and i think they're paid. i think they get paid. don't they like select committee chairs? i think they get a little bit more money in there, in their salaries. yeah. and also you get to one of them gets to chair the the debates after the budget. yes of the. famously the speaker doesn't do the budget. yeah. so the question there i guess is whether is there at any point where the liberal democrats might have a have one of those roles because it normally it's labour tory, but because they now have, you know, not that many fewer than the conservatives. is there a possibility that they get one of those deputy speaker roles? and i think caroline nokes, i think she's the only one i've seen who said she's going to stand up for that. she's a conservative mp. well, what's interesting about that is, is that an opportunity for some more conservative blood letting, because caroline nokes is not very popular on the on the very right wing of the conservative party because they think she's too much of a softie and too into diversity and things like that. yeah, yeah. so there's yeah, certainly more

battles the tories can have. and also there's the whole point about, you know, how many of them are there to go around given you've got to fill select committee places, you've got to fill the shadow cabinet roles and the shadow roles. so there's, you know, not many of them are going to probably end up without a job. oh, i should say sharon hodgson, labour mp for washington and gateshead south. she said she's going to stand to be a deputy speaker so that that race is hotting up. i remember, ithink, did i do a piece for the daily politics programme when there was a elections for deputy speaker in the 2010s. and the metaphor i used, oh, i can't believe i did this. i got one of those like plastic race car track toys, like with, with like ramps on it. and then i got, i got five snails and i filmed the snails going down the slide going, it's the race everyone in westminster cares about, almost suggesting that it was it was not that important. but they perform. they perform very well. i mean, little did i realise, i only i then subsequently learned the importance of the roles of, of deputy speakers. won't be doing that. uh, other news. 0h, there's so many things. actually, this now seems

like ancient history. this morning when the metro mayors turn up in number ten. what about them ? i mean, that was i mean, that was because ben houchen probably felt a little bit, you know, a bit a bit outnumbered because he's the only conservative mayor for tees valley. so i think he i think he arrived early and there were some shots of them all inside number ten. and they, you know, he wasn't being ostracised. they were talking to him. and afterwards he came out and said, look, this you know, this is the government that the people have elected and we everyone needs it to work to improve things. so, um, it's a slightly different dynamic. and then, yes, all the others. so like andy burnham was there and then he came out as the, as the cabinet, sorry. started started arriving and ed miliband, they were hugging in the street. so we're still at the sort of hugging, hugging, smiling stage, i would say, of this new parliament. and also keir starmer has talked about setting up this new council of the nations and regions, hasn't he? so it sounds like those, those mayors who have complained about being kind of locked out of downing street under the previous

government are going to have a sort of open invitation to turn up more often. yeah. interesting to see what actually happens with devolution, because the labour manifesto talks about doing it in quite a quite a big way. and also, well, how do you do devolution in areas that don't have metro mayors, for example. and it's also the handing over of power. i mean, no politician likes handing over power, really, do they? so, you know, it's it will be seen now that sir keir starmer is in with his massive majority, you know, will he still do that. you know devolving power away from whitehall and, you know, diminishing your own power up to a point, isn't it? but they feel that that's the best way it works, that local people know what is best for their area. and that's a much better way to govern. and talking about, um, giving away power, i've been reading the this the national wealth fund that rachel reeves, the chancellor, says she's going to set up. um, she was talking about the first steps for that today, and it's based on this task force that she appointed, which included people like mark carney and lots of ceos of banks and stuff. um, and i nowjust trying to find. yeah. so yeah, basically they're gonna they're gonna set this up.

it's probably for, for the first few billions that they, that they invest in this national wealth fund are actually going to be through existing funds, because we've already got quite a few banks like the infrastructure bank and things like that. but my favourite bit of the recommendation is that, and i quote, the case will need to be made for a relaxation of public sector and procurement constraints to attract professionals of sufficient experience and calibre to actually work for this national wealth fund. so it sounds like the person that ends up running the mwf, as it's known, might be paid quite a lot more than the prime minister and people in the public sector, so that would be intriguing to see. that would be a strange start. yes. and all the all the finance people are saying, oh, it must this must be very independent of government, very, very independent of government. so will rachel reeves actually be that keen to hand away like control of many, many billions of pounds. yeah. you've been waiting 1a years to come into power and then start handing it out. handing it away. and that's all for this

episode of newscast, we recorded some extra stuff, which you can hear in the podcast edition, which is available on bbc sounds, and we'll be back with another episode very soon. bye— bye. newscast from the bbc. hello. thanks forjoining me. well, it does feel like summer has come to an abrupt end. or perhaps it never started in the first place. and more rain clouds on the horizon for the rest of this week. but here's some good news. at least it's not going to be raining all the time. i want to show you the big picture first and where the jetstream is relative to the uk. here it is over the next few days, to the south of us, now north of the jet stream, we generally have cool air. south of the jet stream we generally have warm air. notice where it is over the coming

days to the south of us. that means we get that air stream from the north and with a rippling jet stream, we also have weather patterns heading our way and in fact, a lot of rain to come in the coming days, particularly across northern parts of the uk. in fact, the north east of scotland in the next 2a hours particularly soggy with this weather system here. that rain unrelenting here, particularly in the northeast highlands, in grampian to the south. by the end of the night, i think just a few scattered showers, but it is relatively humid air, so that means that the temperatures aren't dropping particularly low overnight, say 1a degrees first thing in the morning. now here's wednesday, low pressure to the north. so that rain that i mentioned in the north and the east of scotland the met office is pointing to 20—30mm of rain quite widely. in the extreme case it could be double even triple that. so a really, really wet across this part of the world to the south, scattered showers, maybe some thunderstorms. but i think come the afternoon there will be some sunshine in the south of the uk. and that, of course, is good news

for wimbledon because the weather has been dreadful. however, there is a rain symbol there for wednesday. that's to indicate the showers we should have in the morning, but come the afternoon it will be better. now, high pressure is close by. it's just in the wrong position. we're on the edge of the high, so that means that the winds are coming in from the north. so really cool air sliding across the uk with showers and again rather a lot of cloud. look at the temperatures. 1a in aberdeen, we might squeeze 22 or 23 in the south east of the country if there will be some prolonged sunny spells, but the outlook into the weekend really says it all. it's that mixed bag and it is on the cool side forjuly. bye— bye.

welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm steve lai. the headlines... a pivotal nato summit takes place in washington, aiming to bolster support for ukraine as the military alliance marks its 75th anniversary. pressure mounts on president biden with growing calls from fellow democrats to drop out of the us presidential race. an israeli air strike on a camp

for displaced people in gaza — medics say at least 29 people are dead. and actor alec baldwin in court for his trial over a fatal shooting on the set of the film "rust". hello and welcome to the programme. a nato summit, to mark 75 years of the trans—atlantic alliance, has begun in washington amid pomp and ceremony, led by president biden. ukraine is uppermost on the agenda, with the bloc aiming to present a united front helping kyiv counter russia's aggression. on arrival, ukraine's president, volodymyr zelensky, said he'd be appealing for more air defences alongside sustained security guarantees.

but behind the scenes, pressure continues to mount